The Child Tax Credit (CTC) has seen some key updates enacted as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” As of the 2025 tax year (filed in 2026) and going forward, the credit is structured to be claimed when filing your tax return, transitioning away from the advance, fully refundable payments that were temporarily provided during the pandemic years.
These changes in summary will mean that in 2025 and beyond, families can generally expect a slightly larger Child Tax Credit that is indexed for inflation, but with stricter SSN requirements for parents/guardians, which will impact some families who previously qualified.
Key Changes to the Child Tax Credit (CTC)
The Child Tax Credit (CTC) will be $2,200 per qualifying child for the 2025 tax year. Notably, beginning in 2026, this maximum credit amount will be adjusted annually for inflation, ensuring its value keeps pace with economic changes.
Below are the latest income thresholds and criteria for receiving the full CTC, which remains based on earned income and qualifying child criteria:
- Earned Income Requirement: Families must have at least $2,500 in earned income (Adjusted Gross Income – AGI) to claim any portion of the child tax credit.
- Refundable Portion (Additional Child Tax Credit – ACTC): Eligible families can receive a refund worth 15 percent of earnings above $2,500, per child (referred to as the Additional CTC). For 2025, the maximum refundable portion (ACTC) remains at $1,700 per qualifying child.
- Income Phase-Out Thresholds: The full credit amount begins to phase out for taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) exceeding:
- $400,000 for married couples filing jointly.
- $200,000 for all other filers (single, head of household, qualifying widower).
- See table below for additional details
New Requirement: Social Security Number for Claimants
A significant change effective for the 2025 tax year is that the taxpayer claiming the credit, or at least one spouse if filing jointly, must have a valid Social Security Number (SSN). Previously, only the qualifying child needed an SSN.
This update is expected to affect some families where children are U.S. citizens but parents do not have SSNs. This was done to align with Trump/MAGA immigration policies.
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The remaining non-refundable portion of the child tax credit can only be applied against a tax payers liability. If there is no tax liability, then this portion of the CTC won’t be paid out.
It’s important to note that while the overall credit increased, the refundable portion did not see a corresponding increase, meaning the full $2,200 is not entirely refundable for all low-income families. For families with very low earnings, they might not benefit from the full $200 increase if they don’t earn enough to qualify for the full credit under the phase-in rules.
You can also claim the $500 Other Dependents Credit (ODC) or Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), along with or in place of the non-refundable CTC as discussed in the sections below.
Maximum Child Tax Credit and Income Thresholds
The updated maximum credit amount, refundable portion and income thresholds for CTC qualification are shown below.
| Tax Year | Max Tax Credit Amount | Refundable CTC Max (ACTC) | Income Threshold Lower Limit (reduced/phased-out by $20 for each $1,000 of income above the income threshold) | Maximum Income Threshold Above which no credit is claimable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 and 2026 | $2.200 | $1,700 | $400,000 (joint return), $200,000 (individual and other filing status') | $440,000 (joint return), $240,000 (individual and other filing status') |
| 2024 | $2,000 | $1,700 | $400,000 (joint return), $200,000 (individual and other filing status') | $440,000 (joint return), $240,000 (individual and other filing status') |
| 2023 | $2,000 | $1,600 | $400,000 (joint return), $200,000 (individual and other filing status') | $440,000 (joint return), $240,000 (individual and other filing status') |
| 2022 | $2,000 | $1,500 | $400,000 (joint return), $200,000 (individual and other filing status') | $440,000 (joint return), $240,000 (individual and other filing status') |
| 2021 (revised under ARP) | $3,000 (6 to 18), $3,600 (under 6) | N/A | $150,000 (joint return), $75,000 (individual and other filing status') | $440,000 (joint return), $240,000 (individual and other filing status') |
| 2021 | $2,000 | $1,400 | $400,000 (joint return), $200,000 (individual and other filing status') | $440,000 (joint return), $240,000 (individual and other filing status') |
In addition to the federal CTC payments administered by the IRS, several states also pay child tax credit payments to qualifying residents
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Child Tax Credit Qualification rules
The Child Tax Credit (CTC) covers children under 17 years-old and is available to tax paying parents or legal guardians on the child. Full CTC eligibility is subject to income limits as shown in the table above. The IRS has published additional information around claiming this credit via one or qualifying children.
A Qualifying child for this credit is someone who meets the following criteria of six tests: age, relationship, support, dependent, citizenship, and residence:
- Age Test – To qualify, a child must have been under age of 17 (i.e. 16 years old or younger) at the end of the year in which the credit is being claimed for.
- Relationship Test – To claim a child for purposes of the Child Tax Credit, they must either be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister or a descendant of any of these individuals, which includes your grandchild, niece or nephew. An adopted child is always treated as your own child.
- Support Test – In order to claim a child for this credit, the child must not have provided more than half of their financial support in the given financial year the credit is being claimed for.
- Dependent Test – You must claim the child as a dependent on your federal tax return. No one else can claim the child.
- Citizenship Test – To meet the citizenship test, the child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien.
- Residence Test – The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year you are the claiming the credit for. If multiple people claim the child, it will likely cause refund delays for both tax filers.
- Income Limitations – The credit is limited if your modified adjusted gross income is above a certain amount. Limits are shown in the table above based on filing status. The credit is reduced/phased-out by $50 for each $1,000 of income above the income threshold amounts. The phaseout ranges are set by statute and so are not adjusted for inflation.
- In addition, the Child Tax Credit is generally limited by the amount of the income tax you owe as well as any alternative minimum tax (AMT) you owe.
The Child tax credit can be claimed in addition to the existing credits (like the EITC) for Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC).
Difference Between the CTC, ACTC and ODC?
The CTC payment works as a deduction and a refundable credit. The deduction component means it is not fully refundable and only reduces your tax liability.
So if the amount of your Child Tax Credit is greater than the amount of income tax you owe then you may not get the entire CTC.
But you may still be able to claim the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) which is the refundable component of the child tax credit (but treated as a separate payment). This is the case when your potential Child Tax Credit amount is greater than your tax liability.
The ACTC allows you to get a check for the remaining or non-deductible Child Tax Credit (up to $1,500 per child) after your tax bill is reduced to zero.
For example a couple, with one qualified child, who filed jointly with household income of $85,000 will receive the full CTC since their earned income is above $2,500 but less than the maximum income thresholds for married couples shown in the table below.
Another example is a single mother with two children earning $24,500 who has no tax liability. She will receive a refund of $1,500 for two children (15 percent of $22,000, up to the $1,500 maximum). But she won’t get the non-refundable deduction of $500 since she has no tax liability.
For those who don’t qualify for the full CTC or partial ACTC, there is a credit for Other Dependents (ODC) available, which provides a non-refundable tax credit of up to $500 per qualifying person. A tax filers AGI needs to be less than $200,000 (single) or $400,000 (married) to claim the ODC credit.
To determine which credit and how much you qualify for, it is best to use tax software packages like Turbo Tax or e-file, which can help determine your eligibility an refund amount (Schedule 8812).
State Child Tax Credits (CTC)
In addition to the above federal CTC, several states enacted a state child tax credit. Qualifying criteria for each state differ and qualifying for the federal CTC does not guarantee eligibility for a state-level child tax credit.
You will need to check your state’s revenue or tax website and claim a local CTC return via your state tax filing.
EITC and ACTC Refund Delays due to PATH
Every year the IRS holds/delays refund payments for people claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) due to additional anti-fraud safeguards/reviews under Congress mandated laws known as the PATH Act.
While the IRS will continue to accept returns claiming the EITC and/or ACTC, the PATH Act requires the IRS to hold the entire refund payment on tax returns claiming these popular credits, even if you have claimed it successfully in past years, until mid-February.
The refund freeze is for the entire refund — even the portion not associated with the EITC and ACTC. You can see examples of this on your transcript.
Impacted refund payments will subsequently be delayed past the current schedule – assuming all other items are in order.
Note however that this PATH refund hold only applies to the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC). This is the refundable portion of the CTC which does not require the tax payer to have a tax liability and hence subject to higher levels of fraud.
Why is My Child Tax Credit Lower Than Prior Years?
With the significant drop in the CTC this year many tax filers are surprised to see their refund payment lower than expected, mainly due to to the smaller child tax credit.
Another reason is that they are not paying attention to the minimum earnings requirement ($2,500) to get the any portion of the tax credit. This was waived during the 2020 and 2021 pandemic tax years, but is back in effect now.
The full amount of the credit can be claimed when a taxpayers AGI reaches $23,000/$29,000 (singles/married filing jointly) up to the income thresholds above, when it starts to phase-out.
Also as discussed in the ACTC vs CTC section below, the non-refundable $500 component of the CTC can only be applied against or deduct your tax liability.
If you don’t have a tax liability (e.g. if you make less than the standard deduction) you will only get the refundable or ACTC component of the child tax credit.
Also note that if your one your claimed dependents turned seventeen during 2022, they would not be eligible for the CTC since the qualifying age requires them to be under 17 at the end of the year.
Expanded CTC under Biden ARPA Bill (Now Expired)
In response to fighting child poverty and providing support to families during the COVID pandemic, President Biden and Democrat’s, have via the now enacted ARPA COVID relief bill, raised the current $2,000 CTC (details below) to $3,000 annually per child (or $250 monthly) between the ages of 6 and 17, while increasing it to $3,600 for children under the age of 6 (infants), equivalent to $300 monthly. Ages are as of the end of 2021.
The IRS will allow qualifying tax payers to choose to receive these payments on a monthly basis versus eligible recipients only being able claim the credit in a lump-sum via their tax return on an annual basis. The main criteria will be to have an e-filed 2019 or 2020 tax return or update details via the IRS non-filer tool.
The size of the credit would diminish (phase-out) for Americans earning more than $75,000 per year, as well as for couples jointly earning more than $150,000 per year. However unlike other income based credits, this does not require earned income or wages so working and nonworking people would be able to claim this benefit.
Note however that the new CTC amounts are only a temporary increase for one year, similar to the increase to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in 2021.
When Will I Start Getting These Advance CTC Payments?
The IRS started making monthly payments from mid-July 2021 (see full schedule and payment FAQs), based on 2020 income (AGI) and family size. The CTC payments made this year would be reconciled via 2021 tax returns (filed in 2022) to ensure no over or under payments.
Note that I expect the roll-out of this credit to be a massive challenge for the IRS given it is a new program and paying millions of households within 3 months will be a big challenge to overcome. Verifying eligibility, confirming payment details and actually processing monthly payment will be a mammoth undertaking for the agency.
Case in point, the one time stimulus checks took several weeks to roll-out the first time it was paid last year, so I don’t expect these payments to be smooth or quick, and many could miss out for the first few weeks when the program is available. I’ll post updates on this site to discuss and hopefully provide solutions for payment issues.
How do i know if I will owe the child tax credit I have received?? I haven’t worked since the pandemic started and around that time I was pregnant. So I stayed home. So when i do my 2021 tax return. I will have no income to claim. Do I even file for a return ? Do I have to pay the CTC back?
My three children live with me 85% of the year and I may a significantly less amount of money as my ex. When we were in the process of getting divorced, I did not realize I should try and get the deduction for the kids. The divorce decree has us each taking one and and alternating the third as dependents on our taxes. I was just made aware that because they live with me the majority of the time I should be able to claim all three as dependents. Not only will that help me at tax time it also allows me to have less withheld during the year so I have more money each month. And now the stimulus money he got 2 child payments ($1000) and I only received one ($500). I told him that money is meant to go to who the kids are living with to help with day to day expenses – he laughed and wasn’t about to give me any. Can I change it so I can deduct all three children? Do I have to get a lawyer and all that fun stuff or can I just start claiming them and when they ask for proof I give them the proof they live here the majority of the time – knowing he will be giving them a copy of the divorce decree. The kids are still young enough where I think I should change it while I still can. And if it is approved can I amend past returns? Thanks in advance!!
Hey so I let my son grandma claim 3 of my kids on her taxes since 2012 and she haven’t gave me no money for the stimulus check do anybody know how I can get help on getting my kids 500 per kids I’m struggling and need it and I don’t think it’s okay for people to do things like this my kids need this money and I know it’s a way I can get help on trying to get the money the irs gave to my 3 kids
I filed taxes every year with my wife at the time. We have 2 kids, both under age. We have divorced 5 years ago. I claim my daughter every year, so with this stimulus package we all got i only received the 1200 but not the 500 for my daughter. Is there a reason for this? I called child support agency and I’m good there. I’m actually ahead of the game with them. I just don’t understand it. Can I get any answers please?
How old is your daughter? Under 17? Are you sure your wife didn’t claim her as well? The IRS will send you a payment letter in 15 days and you can submit an appeal.
My sons father and I have a shared parenting plan. This year was his year to claim our son on taxes. Even tho he has 10 kids and doesn’t need the credit. I didnt receive the 500 on my stimulus. Which sucks because my son is here more.
Isn’t it crazy max age is 17? Most kids graduate at age 18. So we’re not allowed a child credit, (to offset cost of raising our child)while they’re still in high school? Perhaps they need 1 more requirement: Qualifying up to age 18/19, if they were still in High School, (& not because they’re duplicating years)
I absolutely agree! It should be 19! My daughter doesnt graduate until June 2021.
18 &19 considered adults . Either they started school late or held back still 18 and over are considered adults
I think it’s crazy ! I have twin girls that turned 17in October and both in school still and can’t get child tax .
Why do I not get the Tax Credit for my son. Yes he turn 17 but he still is in school
I pay $200 per month for the person take care my kids, now he want to show it in tax returns and asking a document /form to use an proof. What form/document I suppose to provide for his tax returns in 2018.
can I claim my babies for 2017 taxs if they were born in oct 2017…do the prorate it or do we get it for the whole year.
i had the same question because my 3rd daughter was born in sept 2017, per H&r block we are to put the full 12 months on how long they lived with us.
Last year I had recieved a child care credit (refund) on my federal taxes. This year I paid more in child care costs… Do we still get this credit? When I did my taxes (just a test run to get an idea of what they would be) there was no credit/refund (I thought this would go up a couple hundred since the cost has doubled. My EIC went down (which I understand- I made $1,000 more this year).
I am 47.I have three daughters one in college. My wife is disabled and requires more home care attention than the state will pay for. 751 a month misbehave family of five is living on. I worked for 3 months for about 3700 grosspay. Will I get a decent sum in return when I file for 2017?
I am a grandmother who take care of my grandkids financially but they don’t live in my home. I am the sole provider when it comes to buying their clothes and school clothes, and I help with the bills at their home and buy food when needed. My question is…. will I be able to claim them on my taxes? I have all receipts.
Since they didn’t live with you for over half of the year, they wouldn’t satisfy the residence test and therefore you can’t claim them as dependents on your taxes.
Bernie, sadly you can not claim them. However, the parents should give you part of the tax refund. Mine do live with me and I am certainly claiming one of them. Good luck/
Ok so I’ve never had to do this before but I’m wondering did they cancel the child tax credit for Missouri?I just started a new job and I have guardianship of my nephew bc his dad passed away and I was told last year that it’s no longer offered in the state of Missouri just curious if this is true or not bc I have had him since 2015 and was told we can’t get a (CTC) but thinking it may have been just for that year and bc I didn’t make enough money last year, I just got a new job last Monday I will work 40 hours every week guarantee then after 8 weeks I will bump up to 12.50 per hour for 40 hours each week can anyone tell me if I will get the child tax credit. He is 15 years old but he will be 16 years old in 8 days. He also draws social security off of his daddrgar passed away. Thank in advance.
You have to have at least $3000 in earned income (like from a job) to be eligible for the child tax credit.
It’s a federal tax credit, so it wouldn’t be “cancelled” for residents of Missouri, but’s if you earned less than $3000 you wouldn’t qualify.
There are some other tests that have to be satisfied in order for you to claim your nephew; see the numbered list in the article above under the heading “Child Tax Credit Qualification rules”. You mention that he draws his dad’s social security survivor benefits, If the money he gets from this provides over half of his support, you would not be able to claim him for purposes of the child tax credit. Also you should be aware that since he’s 16 this year, next year he will have “aged out” of the “child” definition for the child tax credit– a child has to be 16 or under at the end of the year to be eligible.
MY daughter turned 17 may 30th of 2017 and is a student does that qualify for child tax credit
Your daughter has to be under 17 on Dec 31st of the tax year
Nope you cannot, I am in the same boat here, so I guess we are both screwed. Nice for the people who have tons of kids under the age of 17 and already don’t pay much in taxes. Go figure.
I don’t get it, we are responsible for our children until they reach 18, then why is the cut off at 16? Are they not a child at 17?????
I totally agree. this credit should be changed to under 19.
If they are not considered “Adult” until 18 we
should be able to claim them.
My girlfriend earned less than 3000$ can she still get child credit?
No.
I was a resident alien and lived first 4 months of 2016 in US along with my son and wife. Then I moved to another country. Am I eligible to claim child tax credit, as all of us were present in the country only for 4 months?
Under physical presence, you are a Resident Alien if in the US for 183 days. This can be in the current year or over the previous 3 years. Count all days in 2016, 1/3 days in 2015 and 1/6 days in 2014 to equal 183. Publication 519. Child Tax Credit can be claimed if: a US Citizen or Resident Alien, child under 17, lived with you for more than half the year, is claimed as a dependent on your return.
Why has the child tax credit stayed at $1000. Why hasn’t it gone up with the cost of feeding kids?
My daughter it’s 16 she earned 2900.00 $ at her job if she files herself and I claim her as a fitment dependent Will I still get the 1,000.00 earned income credit for her
You can’t claim her as a dependent if she files herself.
I am a mother if three and i got the earned income credit i claimed my 3 kids and myself and they are ages 5…2…1 will i get 1000 back each of them if i didnt claim the child tax credit? Worried cause we are so far behind on things and tthe money would help alot. Pkease help me
The child tax credit is not refundable. It only reduces the tax liability. For example: your tax liability is 4,000, so you’ll get 3,000 child tax credit, then your tax liability will be reduced to 1,000.
Not completely true. A portion of the CTC is refundable depending on the circumstances and income level. Easy enough to google it and read on the IRS website.
What if the dad lives in nh and doesn’t live with them can he claim them.
Child has to live in his house for 6 months of the year or longer otherwise it has to be agreed to with custody agreement. if your the sole provider then no he cant
I’m due March 25th 2017,can I filemy 2016 taxes for my baby I’m a single parent.
no child has to be born by December 31 at 11:59 pm in order to be included on your taxes for that year
No. Child has to be alive for 6 months of the year you are fild for. So for 2016 they would have to be born before august
This is not correct. If the kid is born 12/31/2016, you get to claim them on your 2016 return the same as if they were born before 2016.
No it allowa u to put 7 months uf baby was born in oct nov or dec it say it in the child tax form …
Mike is right. See question #9 on this list of questions on the irs.gov site: https://taxmap.irs.gov/taxmap/faqs/faq_02-003.htm#TXMP74ef69f7
will my taxes be on hold since my son is 17 and I don’t get the eic credit
We are wondering the same thing, we normally use turbo tax, it doesnt even give a section to enter her age. But she turned 17 , Jan 14 2016 and is just now a senior in high school, I believe as long as our children are in school we should be about to get the eic credit.
Is it worth filing if I only made $1004.02 and have 3 dependents? Can a relative claim one of my children?
go onto h&r block website and use their calculator that gives you an estimate of what you would receive back. it does not document any info that is entered.
I am a mother of 1 and am not with the father, we have no legal documentation of custody rights. We both want to file, is that possible? A split return?
If both of you try to claim the child for the credit, the IRS will flag and return both of your tax returns. You are far better off deciding between which one of you should claim the credit, and, if you agree to split the credit after that point, the one who receives the full amount of the return can cut the other a check. In some states (Illinois is one), a judge can award the right to claim the credit to a parent on an every-other-year basis. Even years, it’s Dad, odds, it’s Mom.
That’s incorrect, If both parent file the IRS will pay whoever filed first claim and deny the other trust me had it done to me and he filed first so they denied my claim i had to seed prof that i had physical,legal ,primary custody and prof they lived with me the entire year which i did and they refunded me my refund
My grandson turned 17 Oct. 30, 2016. Can I still claim him on my taxes.
You can claim him as dependent (assuming he does not file his own return and is your qualified dependent). But you would not be able to get the CTC for him.
My daughter turned 17 on December 26, can I get the child tax credit of $1000
No, she would fail the age test – “Age Test – To qualify, a child must have been under age of 17 (i.e. 16 years old or younger) at the end of the year in which the credit is being claimed for.”
My son didn’t turn 17 till December why can’t I get tax credit of the $1000
Practical blog post ! I was fascinated by the details . Does anyone know where I might get ahold of a fillable a form document to fill out ?
I’m a singel mom of 3, my oldest is 17. Still I’m school. I’m not understanding why I can’t claim him if he’s a student n lives with me and I support him.
You can claim him, you just don’t get the Child Tax Credit because, even though he is a dependent, he is no longer a “child” in accordance with this credit per the laws passed by Congress.
Hi im a 26yr old divorced woman with 2kids my oldest is in school an my youngest will be 3 in may an will be starting head start soon i make $8 an hr 40hrs a week so around 15,500 a yr i don’t get any child support. Can u give me a estimated amount of how much i will get back when i file next January2016 for this yr??
Depending on how old your first child is, and how much they took out your voucher cks for taxes.. Around 7-9 thousand… Use hnr block tax calculator it’s very accurate…
i am helping a family who has 4 kids in full time schooling. She claims the 15, 10 & 7 year old so she gets the child tax credit but was told she couldn’t claim the 18 year old even though he is a junior in high school and not working. He worked two months during the summer for minimum wage. She receives govt assistance for him but was told she couldn’t or shouldn’t claim him. We want to do what is legally right and with hopes it will hep the family. In addition does he haveto file on his own. Again, he’s living at home and a full time student. Thanks
Legally, assuming he doesn’t provide over half of his own financial support, his mother can and should claim him. He won’t qualify for the Child Tax Credit because he turned 17 in 2016 or earlier, but she can still claim him as her dependent. Whoever told her she can’t claim her oldest is mistaken. However, truth be told, he probably won’t save her anything because all of her federal tax liability will have been eliminated. You can see the effect of him being on her tax return by preparing the return without him and see what her refund will be. Then add him in and see if the refund changes. Chances are it won’t.
I am 36 ..well 35 in December. 2014..I am a single mother. Of a single1 year old
Son..he was born in February28-2014 and. My. Baby daddy went to jail for battery in the2nd degree against me while I was 8 months pregnant ..too keep roof over my son’s and is head I kept my house house cleaned and laundry done ..since I had. New baby and no paying job. I have moved into a friends house..got a job making 7:25 .hr and never get over my20 hours per weekk.I do good to get 8 hrs a week..I have foodstamps 316.00 a month and my bchoirs played our way to live at Robert…I now pay 60.00 every 2 weeks for child care. And been on the waiting list for government housing since September 2014…I’m still waiting to hear back from them…please let me know what if anything I can. Do to get earned income ..I am the one who tool care of hi…only me since my lol buddy.was born ..thanks Tracy George
I have had my godson for over half of the year, am I allowed to claim him?
See this article I wrote on claiming dependents. If he is filing and getting a tax return etc if may be hard for you to claim up. It depends on both your tax filing status’ otherwise the IRS may think you are double dipping!
I made 15500 I have 5 independent I’m head of household 3 are still in school under 16 about how much will I get back on my income tax
I have 3 children 2 are which are still in school and the other in college we were only allowed to claim our youngest what about kids still in school and you still have to pay for their meals, clothes and schooling why did they change the law where you cant claim your 17 or 18 year old still in school.
I have two kids in school who live with me. My daughter just turned 17 on December 4, 2011 and is in 11th grade in highschool.
My son is 18, a 12th grade highschool student. Will I be able to file tax credit for them both?
I only made $28,000 for the year……..I am head of the household
If you are claiming the child tax credit or additional child tax credit the sum of the two cannot be more than $1,000 multiplied by the number of qualifying children. Also, at least one dependent must meet the requirements for the child tax credit. Make sure that each dependent you claim:
Qualifies as a dependent
Is under age 17
Is a U.S. Resident